HOLD ON TO YOUR HATS AS WE SET OFF ON A THREE-PART ADVENTURE IN THE NEW SOUTH AFRICA: A DARING SAFARI IN A PRIVATE GAME PARK, A SWIMSUIT TOUR FROM THE CAPE PENINSULA TO THE KALAHARI DESERT AND A SEARCH FOR PROMISING YOUNG ATHLETES

JUST THE RIGHT JOB HAVING SEPARATED FACT FROM FICTION, TAMPA BAY MADE A WISE CHOICE OF A COACH

I have come to praise the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for hiring TonyDungy, the former Minnesota Vikings' defensive coordinator, astheir coach on Monday. And after this paragraph, I'm not goingto mention his skin color again. That will please Dungy becauseover the years he has grown tired of being considered a blackhead-coaching candidate instead of simply a head-coachingcandidate. There's a temptation to say that being anAfrican-American has kept Dungy from his dream job. But I can'tsay with certainty that, in the three years since he emerged asa serious candidate, he was overlooked for any NFL head-coachingjob because of his race.

What I can say is that Dungy was held back by three knocks thatare more fiction than fact and that the Bucs, who have madetheir share of pea-brained decisions over the years, did well tolook past this conventional ignorance. Here are the bad raps andthe facts that dispute them.

Knock No. 1: He has never been a head coach at any level, andyou must be a head coach somewhere before you can do the top jobin the NFL. This subject came up whenever Dungy was beingconsidered, and he thought about pursuing a college job that hedidn't want, with the University of Minnesota, just for the sakeof enhancing his resume.

Fact: Pro football's three alltime winningest coaches--in order,Don Shula, George Halas and Tom Landry--got their firsthead-coaching jobs in the NFL. The winningest active coach, DanReeves, also had never been a head coach until the DenverBroncos hired him.

Knock No. 2: He's not very good at yelling at people, and youhave to be loud and confrontational to be a successful NFLcoach. Exasperated after coming in second for the JacksonvilleJaguars' job--to some degree because the Jags' brass figured hecouldn't give an inspiring pregame speech--Dungy vigorously triedto show the Bucs that he could get in a player's face if need beby citing examples of how he has handled players in the past.

Fact: Former Pittsburgh Steelers coach Chuck Noll won 209 games,yet most of his players can't recall him ever screaming at them."If players can't get themselves mentally ready to play," Nollwould often say, "then I don't want them." Mike Holmgren coaxeda spunky bunch of Green Bay Packers into the NFC ChampionshipGame this year, and he's not a screamer either.

Knock No. 3: He lacks charisma and coaching genius.

Fact: When you talk to Dungy, he looks you right in the eye,tells you exactly what he's going to do and then does it. "He'sthe most straightforward guy you could have as a coach," saysVikings defensive tackle John Randle. Also, look at what theMinnesota defense did in Dungy's four seasons as coordinator.Even though the Vikes lost three All-Pro defenders--tackle KeithMillard before the 1992 season, end Chris Doleman after the '93season and tackle Henry Thomas after '94--their average finish inthe defensive rankings was ninth during Dungy's tenure.Minnesota had the top-rated defense in 1993 and the next yearallowed fewer rushing yards a game than any defense in theprevious 30 years. "Every time we play the Vikings," Green Bayquarterback Brett Favre said last fall, "I see some things I'msure we can take advantage of. Then the game starts, and they dosomething unexpected. Tony's schemes are the toughest I face."

So much for the X's and O's. Now for a dose of 1990s reality:The most important three months for an NFL coach are notOctober, November and December; they're February, March andApril. That's when he determines which of his own free agentshe's going to try to re-sign, which of the other teams' freeagents he's going to pursue, which college players he's going todraft, what coaching-staff changes he's going to make and whatnew pages will be added to his playbook. And that's also when heteaches his system to his new players. What traditionally hadbeen football's dead time is now a coach's critical period.

The Bucs don't know how good they'll have it this winter andearly spring. Here they are with upwards of $14 million to spendon free agents, and they've hired a coach whom players want toplay for. If you're a free agent and you want to play inFlorida--which many players do--you first cross the Miami Dolphinsoff the list because they have no room under the salary cap.That leaves Jacksonville and Tampa. One day you sit across thedesk from the militaristic Tom Coughlin of the Jaguars. The nextday you sit across from the conversational Dungy. Opportunity'sthe same. Money's the same. It's no contest. You pick Tampa Bay.

Dungy has been blessed by the football gods. In getting theBucs' job, he has been given a good young team, extra draftpicks in the first and second rounds and room under the cap.After everything he has been through, justice was served.